Help cRPG grow!

[Vovka]

W I P E !!!!

[Dexxtaa]

Here's something I posted a while back. I think it's a better idea for peasants to experience the thrill of combat while trying to participate in a team environment, versus this shitty tick system where they just run around aimlessly.

An advocation for reinstatement of cRPG’s proximity XP/Gold gain system

Naturally, I was met with "official" responses regarding an XP/Gold system that was under development that would replace our current system (and of course, it was coming out Soon^tm)

[bagge]

Sorry for double posting, but I have to before I forget it:

There are two new players on the server (Eu1) at the moment, and both can not register in this forum because of bugged captchas. They say they typed in the captcha dozens of times, but it will always say it's wrong.

I don't even have any captchas in this forums, but it's not the first time I hear this from new players, in fact, I heard it several times before.

This surely is an issue devs/admins/mods? have to deal with.

I know Fjell has the same issue.

[Torost]

maybe instead of the shitty gear you get as peasant you could give new players some good gear that is useful even at low level.
Maybe tailor a package just for newbies.

Shield + Spear + crossbow + bolts + donkey ?

This will lead them to try classes that are easy to survive and feel like you are helping the team out.

block and poke style or camp-shot-hide-reload.

[bagge]

Crossbow as default equipment? What a nightmare

[Mr_Oujamaflip]

Why not just remove levels 1-20 and have everyone start at level 20 but call it level 1.

With the amount of XP available now getting to level 20 can be done in a few hours anyway, it's just cutting out the shit part.

[Herezy92]

I saw interesting ideas here.

For me, this is how i see their start :
---------------------

Having a welcoming POP-UP when they join for the first week, explaining where to play :
"Welcome to cRPG, we have detected that you just started, we advise you to play on EU7 (DTV) or EU2(Siege) to level up and have a good entertainment of this mod. Moreover, remember to use the forum if you have any questions."
(The forum must be easier to see on website)

About their first character :

The new players must have a level 30 at start with 60K -80K gold.
The stats must be 18/18 (with some free points that they can manually add, so they will start to be used to the system)
The WPF must be set at 1.

Starting at level 30 will allow them to help a bit their team.
Yes of course they wont match an experienced player, but support / backstabbing can help. (More than being an useless peasant, bouncing all the time...)
Moreover, they will have some time to improve till they reach level 31and make their own "real" first character.
Of course, if they don't have enough time to play, they can still enjoy the mod with their main as casual players by not retiring.

-------------------------
When you begin in this mod, starting as a peasant is just aint fun at all.

So guys, what do you think ?

[Lennu]

I wouldn't mind giving all accounts a once in a lifetime chance to lvl up one of their characters to lvl 30 and get 40k gold. This free lvlup can only be used as long as they have no characters above gen 1 or something. And a pop-up message about the free level up that tells them to check out this thread http://forum.melee.org/beginner's-help-and-guides/solid-builds/ so they won't fuck up this chance.

[illogical]

I think need start from level 15, 0 experience, 10k gold, 1 free respec to level 29.
its easy start and 1 chance to make a mistake.

[Kalp]

W I P E !!!!

speed is unbalanced

blame Tydeus...

[no_rules_just_play]

I am for allowing players to start on a decent level, I think however lvl 30 or even 25 is too high. Give them lvl 20 and quite a bit of gold, this will allow them to enjoy the game without losing the addictive grind.

Also, feel free to put some weapons in the peasants united armoury, no need for them to be mw.

[Riddaren]

EDIT:

Why isn't there links on c-rpg to help sites such as character builders and Zagibus character gear viewer?

Instead of forcing new players to have default builds that cannot be changed it's better to just  help them in the right direction.
Because it will take away a bit of the fun if they can't change their builds themselves.

The complexity of this games and the learning curve is not only a bad thing. For me, I like those kind of games.
If a games is simple and easy, it's boring and I eventually stop playing it (not cRPG though because I still can't block).

Anyway, you could just mirror the character build page with preset builds below somehow.
Just put a dropdown with various preset builds (classes) and see how the points should be distributed, at each level.

Even better would be to make all level 30+ builds with over 500 kills public, together with K:D and other stats.
Then you have real data to work with. Then you can make a seperate page displaying all those builds in a table together with columns and filters like:

Class (determined by WPF)
Level
Strength
Agility
Every skill

And the possibility to order by any column, defaults to K:D ratio etc.

visitors can't see pics , please register or login

[ecorcheur_brokar]

When you begin this game, you have no idea where to put the point, and what points spent in each skill really represent (even for experienced players, when you change class, you dont really know what 100 wpf represent for a thrower for exemple).

So they should receive an STF character with all the points already spent and some gear.

I think the best build to begin with is shielder/1h, it's in melee but it's not difficult to block. Plus, you can slowly learn to do directionnal block each time your shield breaks (that's how I learnt to block without doing boring lessons on eu3 or DTV).

Also the welcoming message from herezy is a good idea:

(click to show/hide)

Having a welcoming POP-UP when they join for the first week, explaining where to play :
"Welcome to cRPG, we have detected that you just started, we advise you to play on EU7 (DTV) or EU2(Siege) to level up and have a good entertainment of this mod. Moreover, remember to use the forum if you have any questions."
(The forum must be easier to see on website)

[Micah]

I dont agree, that making everything easier for newbees at start is the way to go. Its sounds to me to much of a desperate move of adding some crutch, to prolong the mods life.  I dont believe thats the solution on the long run. I disagree that the skill and level gap nor the equipment difference are the real reason behind aparently fading community life or gameplay fun.

I believe, people should think back and remember of which where the reasons that kept them playing and stay when they started playing. Because, thats the real attractive strenghts of the mod upon which we should build. And also think about the reasons and changes, that might block these positive aspects now. I doubt that its simply the skill and level gap because the mod was totally shitty and much harder in many aspects compared to now and still was fun.

I agree that our current "Boot-Camp" mechanics could use a overhaul. Right now we have introductions and explanations for the game in forum, we have DTV which is a nice practising ground, we have recruiting clans, that are mostly welcoming new players that might join their ranks and help people out. I miss the duel server activity and strongly dislike, that its still no own server, but the Strategus server still - where i could test and improve my fighting techniques.
Perhaps something like monthly BootCamp events for new players could add to the accessability of the mod.

I think, one of the things that changed, are the players themself and their expectations. At times, a new player might experiance some degree of unexcitement, rage ... bad moods in general. Also very few cooperation cues, and lacking hierarchy transparency are visible for new players ... Unanswered questions like: Who is the commanding player/group i can follow? Where am i supposed to go? What am i supposed to do ? ... causing disorientation and uncertainty about whats going on, resulting in loss of playfun. RPing players, which at least have some immersion are basically disappeared from the battlefield.
Sadly commander-chat - which could add a great structuring and immersive element to the gameplay - didnt really work out yet, and i must admit, that i doubt it will ...

[Grumbs]

Why not just remove levels 1-20 and have everyone start at level 20 but call it level 1.

With the amount of XP available now getting to level 20 can be done in a few hours anyway, it's just cutting out the shit part.

I like this idea. Make the game level 1-10, with level 1 having as many skillpoints/stats as the current lvl 20. This way you still get the grind but you start with 2/3 of the power of a lvl 30. Personally i'd make lvl 10 the max level too, or make high levels get no stat increase like Tydeus said